In the medical testing environment, particularly when a patient is required to undergo stress testing on a treadmill, the patient is frequently tested to the point of exhaustion. When this point is reached, the patient may collapse and will require the assistance of the attendants to reach a wheelchair or a stretcher. Typically, gurneys and wheelchairs have narrow wheel bases and the chair or gurney is placed at the foot of the treadmill. When the patient collapses attendants are needed to carry the patient back to the wheelchair or gurney.
Wheelchairs are most often used in this situation since the patient is not expected to reach the point of collapse. However, when this point of exhaustion is reached, it is difficult for the attendants to move the patient back to the chair particularly when monitoring electrodes and tubes are attached to the patient.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that there is a need for a convertible chair permitting the support portion thereof to be moved over the foot of a treadmill so that the testing subject will not have far to move upon total collapse and that the backrest also provides a solid surface for performing cardiopulmonary resusitation (CPR) should the patient go into cardiac arrest.